Zaward VIVO HDT PCJ004

Heatpipes have not been an integrated part of the CPU heatsink for very long now, but the tall design with a fan fixed to the front has already been done several times over. Copper heatpipes, and later copper bases, helped reach the coolest temperatures available from air cooling, but enthusiasts didn't have to wait long for the next advancement. The newly popular Heatpipe Direct Touch "technology", a design created by Zaward, has proven itself effective in our review of the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler which "borrowed" from Zaward's design.

Many manufacturers search out designs that will help them develop a product known for extraordinary performance. Benchmark Reviews has already reviewed many of the very best CPU coolers available to enthusiasts, from the very unique and original design of the Zaward Sylphee ZCJ003 CPU Cooler to the oversized Thermaltake MaxOrb CL-P0369 CPU Cooler. Not long ago, we even reviewed the Ultra ULT33186 Chilltec TEC CPU Cooler which combined three different cooling technologies into one solution. All of these products performed very well, but none of them really set itself apart from the pack. In this review we will test the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe Direct Touch CPU cooler against a field of top competitors.

Ideally every CPU cooler should perform well, which most do. But in the age of advertising and marketing, consumers are easily mislead into believing a product will perform well just because of the company branding it. I have reviewed some very nice coolers over the summer by some of the most well known names in the industry; only to be let down by their claims of premium performance. Well, to be honest, prior to this summer I had never heard of Zaward before; but their Sylphee CPU cooler was quite impressive. Now a few months later Benchmark Reviews has the opportunity to showcase their crown jewel.

Zaward Corporation, a professional thermal provider aims to create best product to user's demand. Today it brings a radically invention "VIVO" to contradict the stereotype that Water cooling performs superior
than Air cooling solution. VIVO, Zaward's latest CPU Cooler, is a superb Air cooling solution, featuring intelligent soldering free heatpipe direct touch design, allows immediate heat conductivity from CPU to 3 high transmitted U shape heatpipes connected with high density fins for ultimate heat dissipation. Chic cover design, perfect combination of white cover, Golf fan and black mesh, creating Jil Sander's understated and sleek design concept in PC industry. Super value saving dual golf fans, gorgeous streamline design, optimized fan speed in 2000rpm, one to blow in, another to suck out, reinforce extreme push to accelerate optimum cooling efficiency under extremely quiet operation! Support universal clips in Intel LGA775; AMD's 754/939/940, AM2, easy installation and user's friendly. Bonus Zaward thermal grease enhances thermal efficiency. VIVO outperforms any Air cooling products and operates equal to Water cooling ones. A second to none CPU cooler and surely the best choice!

Just a moment here... Zaward claims that the VIVO outperforms any air cooling product? That sure seems bold; perhaps too bold! Well, I'm always a bit skeptical, especially when the marketing spin is soaked with Engrish. But around here we like to let the products prove themselves worthy; and any manufacturer who makes a claim like this had better be sure that their little precious can put up a fight!

About the company: ZAWARD

Zaward Corporation was founded in 1996 as the sole worldwide agent of Globefan Technology Co., Ltd., one of the leading manufacturers of DC fans that has been established since 1986 in Taiwan to provide major personal computer power supply companies with the best quality products.

For their efforts over the decade, the company has built their reliable reputation and gained clients' trust on her high standard of engineering and well-developed quality control system. As the company grew, it put together a thermal solutions R&D team and started work on big OEM projects primarily for German and Japanese electrical companies. With full support from Globefan, the company has consistently met the strict demands of its customers.

While technology is progressing rapidly, reduction in costs are always called for. Due to market changes, the company has decided to promote their own products. In 2005, Zaward & Globefan setup the new R&D center and thermal solutions lab in Taipei, Taiwan for OEM customized projects as well as for its own product development. At the same time, the new noise lab and wind tunnel have been installed in the China factory to fulfill our research and development for high technology, and more advanced products. Meanwhile, to have the complete test equipment for more strict quality control and application purpose.

Features

• Intelligent and soldering free heatpipe direct touch base!
• 3 high transmitted U Shape heatpipes for repaid heat dissipation.
• Chic cover design, outstanding and differentiation from others.
• Dual 92mm round Golf fans with optimized fan speed boost powerful cooling performance dramatically, meanwhile, extremely silent!
• Conquer any current Air cooling solution and performance equal to Water cooling ones.
• Universal clips, Intel LGA775; AMD's 754/939/940, AM2. Easy installation and user's friendly.
• Bonus Zaward thermal grease enhances thermal efficiency!

Specifications

Closer Look: Zaward VIVO

Zaward has seen the pages of Benchmark Reviews before, with their unorthodox but extremely-well performing Zaward Sylphee ZCJ003. This time around, it appears as though Zaward has done it again, offering the uniquely designed VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU cooler. The aluminum finsink is mated to three copper heatpipe rods, and the entire unit is encased into a plastic fan chamber.

The concept Zaward has used for the fan chamber should help focus fan circulation directly through the fins. I'm not going to pass judgment just yet, but I have a feeling that the black vented inserts around the chamber are really going to prove unnecessary.

I won't bother waiting to see the performance result before confiding that the entire chamber could have been excused and simply have a 92mm fan attach to the front and back of the VIVO PCJ004cooler. It would be the shortest distance between two points, and it would save some space around the VIVO.

Zaward has included two of their famed "Golf" fans with the VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU cooler. Each of the 92mm fans is bolted to the plastic VIVO enclosure, utilizing one fan for intake and the other (optional) for exhaust.

Zaward's Golf fan design is borrowed from the pebble indentations found on golf balls. The added surface area allows more air to be collected and moved, without improvising speed or increasing airflow resistance.

The accessory kit included with the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 includes everything you would need to install this cooler. Because the VIVO supports Intel 775 and AMD 940, 939, and AM2 sockets, the range of applications is very broad. Additionally, the weight of the unit is just enough to warrant a back-plate; which also means that you will be removing your motherboard to install this cooler.

An important note to mention is how Zaward has included a ceramic based thermal interface material loaded into a syringe. The exposed copper heatpipes are immediately oxidized with silicon-based TIM, which causes black carbon to stain the CPU, or at least cause a dirty mess when touched. The VIVO PCJ004 should use copper-safe TIM between the heatpipes and CPU, and Zaward was nice enough to include a large enough portion to sustain several reapplications.

So this has been our look at the outside, now let's move on to what we will find on the inside...

Details: PCJ004 HDT Cooler

Sit tight, because we are about to take a spin around the business end of the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler. If you are familiar with the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler, then you are already aware of the VIVO's design, since the HDT-S1283 is a larger clone. The VIVO is the smaller (when you take the fan enclosure off) cooler designed for 92mm cooling fans.

Stacked aluminum plates slide over one-another and are held in place by the heatpipe rods. The combination fits tightly together to create the finsink; a more efficient and lighter version of a heatsink.

From the above below you can get a good view at the top of the VIVO. Many people mistake the total number of heatpipes used in coolers because of the bends; and in the case of the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 there are three heatpipe rods utilized, and not six.

The backside of the unit (shown in the image below) has a curved "valley" indention, which really serves no true purpose in this design. I think that if I were to ever design a "finsink" plate, it would utilize as much footprint space as possible; adding curves might look nice, but they take away from the cooling surface.

Zaward's approach to the aluminum "finsink" on the VIVO is a little different than I would think to be the best. I am sure that there is a reason behind the different slots and grooves, but so far as I can tell they have no purpose in this model. From the top of the unit you can see the ends of the heatpipe rods. Each rod is filled with a liquid which features a low boiling point.

The sad truth is that I don't care who designed the HDT design, even if it was Zaward. The VIVO has been touted as the best air cooler around, and so far I am not buying into the marketing spin. The smaller finsink and thinner heatpipe rods may not give the VIVO any advantage over the competition.

The most critical part of any heatpipe cooler is the arrangement of the actual heatpipe rods. In any heatpipe design, the liquid inside the rod is heated to a very low boiling point. This low boiling point evaporates the liquid into a gas, which carries the heat to the ends of the heatpipe. Once it reached the cooler end(s) of the heatpipe, the chilled gas condenses into a liquid, which will then travel back down to the base for a cooling effect.

The real benefit I see to the design of the HDT-S1283 is two-fold:

1. The liquid will reach the low boiling point faster thanks to the shaved copper face of the pipe.
2. Evaporated gas will have two different ends to carry exchange the heat, effectively cooling twice as fast as a single ended rod.

Testing Methodology

Testing was conducted at a series of temperature intervals, with the ambient room temperature measuring the same for each cooler's reading. Lavalys EVEREST rounds up temperature readings to the nearest whole number, however all ambient temperatures were recorded and accurate to one-tenth of a degree Celsius.

EVEREST Ultimate Engineer Version 4.00.976 was utilized to measure all CPU temperatures. It should be noted that temperatures obtained through software most always reflect the thermistor readings as recorded by the BIOS. All of the units compared in the results were tested on the same motherboard using the same BIOS. These readings are not absolute or correct, but they are relative since every BIOS is programmed differently.

Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Intel P35 chipset) with F4G BIOS
• System Memory: Crucial PC2-8500 CL5 Ballistix DDR2 RAM
• Processor: Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz operating at multiple speeds
• Cooling: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler
• Video: Foxconn GeForce 8800 GTS 640MBoverclocked to 600MHz Core / 900MHz RAM
• Audio: HT Omega CLARO7.1 C-Media 8788 Oxygen Chipset
• Hard Disk 1: Western Digital WD360GD 10,000 RPM SATA
• Optical Drive: Toshiba Samsung SH-S203 SATA 20x DVD R/W
• Enclosure: Lian Li PC-B20A ATX Case with 2x120mm and 1x90mm cooling fans
• PSU: ePower Technology EP-1200P10 xScale 1200W PSU
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP-2 (optimized to 16 processes at idle)

For each test, the computer system was powered on and left idle for ten minutes prior to recording the idle temperature with EVEREST. After idle temperatures have been recorded, two console versions of the Folding @ Home client were simultaneously run to create full load on both CPU cores. After ten minutes of full load, the temperature was again recorded. This process was identical for all cooling solutions used in this test, and was repeated for each ambient temperature interval.

Results

Up first are the results under idle load. The CPU temperature is listed vertically along the left-hand side of the chart, and the ambient room temperature is displayed for each group along the bottom. In this test battery, the OEM cooler provided by Intel with the Core 2 Duo E6600 was used as a reference, which offered a high-temperature baseline reading.

When I tested each cooler, I made certain to keep the hardware settings identical across the entire test platform. I used the same front side bus and clock speeds, which would enable me to clearly compare the performance of each product under identical conditions. While the ambient room temperature increases, all of the coolers I have ever tested would also record higher readings (all except for the Ultra ULT33186 Chilltec TEC CPU Cooler). Since the OEM cooler supplied by Intel was the first unit to be tested, there was quite a difference between the ambient room temperature and the temperature of the cooler (42° C idle at 24° C ambient room temperature).

At idle, the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler was recording results just slightly higher than room temperature, which was encouraging. The 33° C recorded at 24° C ambient was impressive, but nowhere near the Ultra ChillTec, and a few degrees warmer than the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. But the heat had just started to be applied, and once I completed tests on the other coolers it would be time for real cooling under serious load.

Under full load, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 began to create tremendous heat. The little Intel OEM cooler, despite its copper base, gave the worst results anyone could suffer recording, registering 61° C at full load while the room's ambient temperature remained 24° C. But that's what you come to expect from a bundled cooler, right? Sadly this must be the case, because I still hear of many users (even some gamers and hardware enthusiasts) which still use the stock reference cooler. I feel for those of you in this situation, I really do...

...but there are some very good reasons to evolve, or at least save up your money and upgrade. Previously, the very expensive Ultra ULT33186 Chilltec TEC CPU Cooler held the crown for cooling, if only by a very small margin. In all honesty, the Zaward Sylphee ZCJ003 CPU Cooler was the real king of the hill prior to these tests, since it is roughly half the size of everything here. But last week we discovered a new champion when the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler defeated all challengers with a maximum recorded temperature of only 41° C in a 24° C ambient room temperature and at full load.

With a push/pull twin fan arrangement, I honestly thought that the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 would do as well or better than the 33% larger single fan HDT-S1283 cooler. It seems I was wrong; but it also seems that Zaward should return to the PR chalkboard and rewrite the marketing notes on the VIVO. While it wasn't the best air-driven CPU cooler of the bunch, it was a close second. I predict that this Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) design is going to become very popular. Especially since OCZ has followed suit with their own version: the Vendetta. Expect Benchmark Reviews to be reviewing this version of the popular HDT design very soon!

Zaward Final Thoughts

Well it appears that the originator has fallen victim to the impersonator. Sad but true; added to the fact that Zaward's marketing claim that the VIVO "outperforms any Air cooling products and operates equal to Water cooling ones" is clearly false. I think the insult to injury comes when you revisit the marketing pitch "A second to none CPU cooler and surely the best choice!" Apparently, Zaward didn't think a bigger copy of their own cooler would be as effective; but Xigmatek sure did.

VIVO HDT Conclusion

Zaward's retail packaging is acceptable, but some revision should be made so that the front of the box offers a buyer the key features. Unless you pick the box up and search the side panels, you really won't know that the VIVO PCJ004 is an Exposed Copper Heatpipe Direct Touch CPU cooler.

Even if I was in love with the idea of a fan enclosure for the finsink, I have to vote against the design used in the VIVO. It's already a fairly large finsink before the supporting items are bolted on, and the VIVO transforms into a gaudy cooler with the help of considerable plastic. I see some clear-cut areas in need of improvement before the appearance will really win me over. The fans can stay, but that enclosure has got to go.

Fortunately, the VIVO is built solid, and features some very firm construction. Plastic shell halves and inserts aside, the PCJ004 is rugged from top to bottom.

In terms of product functionality, the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU cooler performed better than everyone else; except it's larger clone. Timing is everything, and even though Zaward fashioned the design, they didn't perfect it. If you like the look, and don't have enough head-room for another ten millimeters, then the VIVO is more than enough to cool the most demanding systems.

At the time of this writing, the Zaward VIVO is exclusive to European outlets and is not presently sold in US markets. however this product sells for 32.90 € in Europe which converts to roughly $45.00 USD. At that estimated price, this unit falls right into the price range of most other higher-performing coolers.

In conclusion, the Zaward VIVO PCJ004 Exposed Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler is in fact second to one; with that one being a competitors copy named the HDT-S1283. The Zaward VIVO didn't perform to quite the same level as the crowned leader, but it sure wasn't far off. Although the VIVO handily beats the rest of the competition, the size alone make it difficult to recommend a second-place product which takes as much space as the leading cooling solution. Ultimately, the VIVO is still a great product, with some refinement necessary to regain the dignity it lost in our review. Perhaps Zaward will return with a better performing version of the heatpipe direct touch design before someone else does.

Pros:

+ Extremely effective HDT design
+ Excellent cooling performance
+ Quiet 92mm Golf fans
+ Convenient platform compatibility
+ High-quality construction
+ Well designed heatpipe array

Cons:

- Limited North America availability
- Fan enclosure should be redesigned
- Installation requires motherboard removal

Ratings:

• Presentation: 8.25
• Appearance: 8.25
• Construction: 9.25
• Functionality: 9.75
• Value: 8.75

Final Score: 8.85 out of 10.

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.

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